III.B Regional Profiles: the Oneida County Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee Was Divided Into 6 Regions for the Planning Update Process
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Oneida County Hazard Mitigation Plan Update 10/29/2013 4:43 PM Part IIIB: Regional Profiles III.B Regional Profiles: The Oneida County Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee was divided into 6 Regions for the Planning Update process. These regions were developed to ease travel times for meetings and to foster existing relationships between municipalities. The Planning Regions are shown on the following map. III.B1: Information Collected for Each Municipality: a) Hazards: Each Region met 4 times between January and June of 2013 in order to collect data and share concerns about hazards and potential mitigation strategies. The initial meetings in January of 2013 were dedicated to identifying and profiling hazards of concern. A summary of the Hazards of Concern collected across the Regions is shown in the Table III.B.1 below. The Table is divided into two parts. In the upper portion, we are showing the Very High and High concern levels for both natural and other hazards as ranked by the Regions. Natural Hazards are shown in blue. In the lower portion of the Table, we are showing only the ranking for the Natural Hazards of Concern. Page 1 of 115 Oneida County Hazard Mitigation Plan Update 10/29/2013 4:43 PM Part IIIB: Regional Profiles Top 10 Hazards of Concern in Oneida County From Modified HAZNY in Oneida County HMPC Regions January -February 2013 Hazard Score Percentage Rank Concern Water Supply Contamination 521 100 1 Severe Storm 509 97.69673704 2 Ice Storm 500 95.96928983 3 Very High Tornado 488 93.66602687 4 Flood 482 92.51439539 5 Winter Storm (Severe) 470 90.21113244 6 Utility Failure 457 87.7159309 7 Hazardous Materials In Transit 451 86.56429942 8 Radiological In transit 451 86.56429942 9 Extreme Temperatures 447 85.79654511 10 High Dam Failure 442 84.83685221 11 Earthquake 439 84.26103647 12 Drought 428 82.14971209 13 Fire 416 79.84644914 14 Top 10 Natural Hazards of Concern From Modified HAZNY in Oneida County HMPC Regions January -February 2013 Hazard Score Rank Severe Storm 509 1 Ice Storm 500 2 Tornado 488 3 Flood 482 4 Winter Storm (Severe) 470 5 Extreme Temperatures 447 6 Earthquake 439 7 Drought 428 8 Ice Jam 406 9 Epidemic 404 10 Hurricane 398 11 Wildfire 266 12 Landslide 252 13 Tsunami/Wave Action 153 14 Air Contamination 151 15 Blight 148 16 Infestation 129 17 Avalanche 0 18 Page 2 of 115 Oneida County Hazard Mitigation Plan Update 10/29/2013 4:43 PM Part IIIB: Regional Profiles b) Census Data: The 2010 Census was utilized extensively for the development of the updated Hazard Mitigation Plan for Oneida County. The Census information was used to identify vulnerable populations based on age, language skills and economic conditions. In addition, the Census information also supports documentation regarding land use including population density (persons per square mile). All of this information was added to GIS shapefiles to enable the creation of maps to convey relevant information visually about a municipality's population. The summary of Census information for each municipality is shown in Table III.B.2 which is sorted by Region. c) Land Use Information: The 2012 and 2013 Tax Parcel information from the Oneida County Department Finance and the Oneida County Department of Planning was essential to understanding and summarizing the land uses for each municipality in the county. The Property Class Codes (See Appendix II-5) provide insight into the current land use by designating parcels as agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial, forested, etc. In addition, the GIS shapefiles for the parcel data includes a field describing the date that the parcel was created. This allowed us to isolate parcels that had been created between 2007 and 2013. By utilizing the Property Class Codes, we were also able to readily view the type of land use associated with the new parcels. Land use in each municipality is summarized on Table III.B.3. Table III.B.4 shows a summary of the new development for each municipality. This table also includes the number and type of Critical Facilities that are located within each municipality's floodzone. Please also see the attached Regional Land Use Maps in each Region's section of the Plan. d) Floodzones: An additional source of information for the community profiles was the newly created floodzones and Special Flood Hazard Areas by the RAMPP team assembled for Oneida County. This GIS shapefile was overlain by the County tax parcel records and allowed for a visual synopsis of the location and type of existing and new development within flood hazard areas. Please see Table III.B.4 for a summary of the number of parcels located within the updated flood hazard areas. Floodzones for each municipality within each Region are displayed on the Regional Map A in each section. e) Critical Facilities: The presence of Critical Facilities was also accounted for in each community in the County. To that end, the Property Class Codes from the Parcel layer created for Oneida County provides ample information about the Critical and Vulnerable Facilities located in floodzones. Please see Table III.B.4 for a summary of the type and location of critical facilities including Wastewater Treatment Plants Water Filtration facilities Senior Housing Schools Mobile Homes and Mobile Home Parks Apartment Complexes Municipal Highway and DPW facilities f) Existing Plans: Table III.B.5 provides a summary of the types of plans and regulations that each community is utilizing for land use decisions. These include Comprehensive Plans which are also sometimes called Master Plans, Emergency Plans, Zoning, and Floodzone regulations. III.B.2: Regional Commonalities: The following topics affect multiple communities in the Planning Regions so are described here in detail and mentioned as notes in the Community Profiles section. These topics include: Stormwater and the MS4s Page 3 of 115 Oneida County Hazard Mitigation Plan Update 10/29/2013 4:43 PM Part IIIB: Regional Profiles The Tug Hill Region, and The County Shared Services Agreement Severe storm damages from late June and early July of 2013 NYS Stream Management Initiative a) Stormwater and MS4 communities: As indicated in Part II of the HMP, the MS4 program affects several communities in Oneida County including: Kirkland and Clinton Deerfield Marcy New Hartford Town and Village Paris Utica Whitestown including Whitesboro, Oriskany, Yorkville and New York Mills. The MS4 program is regulated nationally by the EPA, and State-wide by the DEC who regulates the MS4 program activities in the aforementioned municipalities. The MS4 program covers erosion, sediment and stormwater runoff from new construction within their municipal boundaries as well as stormwater quality in the designated MS4 boundaries within the municipality. Many of these communities struggle year-round with flooding caused by stormwater runoff from developed lands. These runoff events occur even when storms are not considered to be severe. In addition to the damages that flooding causes due to quantity, flooding is also frequently a crisis of water quality due to the uncontrolled introduction of a wide variety of contaminants. Therefore, the management of stormwater runoff from developed and developing lands is a crucial part of mitigating severe storms and flooding as well as water supply contamination. Page 4 of 115 Oneida County Hazard Mitigation Plan Update 10/29/2013 4:43 PM Part IIIB: Regional Profiles b) Tug Hill Plateau Region: the Tug Hill Plateau is a ubiquitous land feature in Upstate New York counties including the northern portion of Oneida County. Therefore, several communities in Oneida County are considered part of the Tug Hill Region. A good description of the natural features found in the Tug Hill Region was described on the Visit Tug Hill website at http://visittughill.com/. According to the site, " The Tug Hill region is located roughly in the triangle formed by Watertown, Rome, and Syracuse. It encompasses approximately 2000 square miles. The area is relatively flat compared to other areas in New York State. The most outstanding characteristic of the Tug Hill region is its undeveloped state. There are some small, scattered hamlets and villages along the outer edges of the region, but the core area is heavily forested and relatively unpopulated. The area, because of its landform and location east of Lake Ontario, has the perfect conditions for lake effect snowstorms. These storms are responsible for the majority of the 200-300 inches of snow which fall each year, turning the region into a winter wonderland. The heavy snowfall is one of Tug Hill’s greatest recreational assets. The region is also home to a variety of fish and wildlife. This, along with the vast areas of forested land, numerous rivers and streams, and heavy snowfall make this area prime for many recreational activities including cross-country skiing, hiking, fishing, hunting, and canoeing." According to the NYSDEC (http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/8066.html), "Tug Hill's greatest asset is its abundant snowfall. The elevation and position with respect to Lake Ontario results in an average annual snowfall in excess of 200 inches - the heaviest snowfall east of the Rockies. It is no coincidence that the greatest snowfall also occurs across the highest elevations to the lee side of the lake. The higher topography tends to enhance snowfall rates by providing additional lift as the air crosses the region. Winter recreation activities are a big draw to this area. Snowmobile enthusiasts and cross-country skiers frequent the 46-Corners Unit. The users benefit from the 19.6 miles of Page 5 of 115 Oneida County Hazard Mitigation Plan Update 10/29/2013 4:43 PM Part IIIB: Regional Profiles unplowed town roads and snowmobile trails that are located here." Therefore, it is no surprise to residents of the Tug Hill region that Winter means heavy snowfall.